


Snowbound

by sgteam14283



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Gen, Pre-Relationship, Snowball Fight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-04
Updated: 2016-01-04
Packaged: 2018-05-11 15:13:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5631175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sgteam14283/pseuds/sgteam14283
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Next time Cullen would stick to the ramparts and the Inquisitor would actually look at her target before throwing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Snowbound

**Author's Note:**

> Written for one of the Dragon Age Winter Prompts on tumblr and my first DA:I fic. Enjoy!

Everyone at Skyhold was excited for Satinalia and were eagerly putting up decorations in the main hall; stringing up garlands along the wall, hanging mistletoe, and Josephine planning a party that would draw all their allies together for a night of feasting and merriment. Even the weather was getting in the spirit, letting so much snow accumulate that Aaliyah had to cancel her trip to the Western Approach until it let up.

So she was using the extra time on catching up on her correspondence, her brothers had written several times but Aaliyah had been so busy with dealing with everything that being the head of the Inquisition brought that there hadn’t had time to respond. A knock on her office door brought her back to the present and sighed as she set down the letter. “Yes?” Aaliyah called out while rubbing a hand across her forehead, feeling tired despite the early hour.

“Come on, time for you to stop being all serious.” Sera smiled as she approached Aaliyah with a grin that told the Inquisitor that she had something up her sleeve. “You need to stop slouching.” 

“I don’t slouch.” Aaliyah protested as Sera grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the door. “Where are we going?”

“Outside.” 

Aaliyah couldn’t help but smile at the vague answer, but was glad for the distractions that Sera always brought-it reminded her why she was doing this in the first place. Sera let go of her hand once they clattered into the main hall, both of them striding through the bustle of people and into the snowy outside. Stopping by the top step, Aaliyah inhaled the crisp air while closing her eyes and let the flakes drop onto her face; remembering how magical she found the snow when she was younger.

“‘Lia think fast!” 

“Hm?” Aaliyah looked down in time to see a giant white ball explode in her face. “What was that for?” she sputtered while cleaning the snow off.

“Don’t tell me the Inquisitor’s never had a snowball fight before!” Sera laughed as she threw two more snowball’s at Aaliyah.

This time Aaliyah managed to doge one of them, the second hitting her chest as she rolled out of the way. “I have…just not in a long time!” she protested while gathering up enough snow to build a decent sized snowball. Fortunately the snow was heavy enough and in no time Aaliyah was armed, throwing her snowball where she’d last seen Sera. But the elf was no where to be found and the snowball exploded harmlessly against a tree trunk.

“Gotta move faster!” Sera shouted as she popped up in a completely different place and threw snowballs in quick succession.

Aaliyah moved instantly, her training taking over, and she leapt over the low wall; feet barely touching the snow before she was off and Sera’s snowballs exploding on her heels. Nearly slipping on ice as she stopped behind a tree, she scooped up more snow and quickly packed together four snowballs. Cautiously sticking her head out, Aaliyah ducked back behind the tree as another snowball exploded above her. Shaking the snow from her hair Aaliyah smiled at the fun and ran out from her hiding spot, throwing the snowballs and yelling with joy as they hit their target. 

Knowing that Sera would be retaliating she kept moving, sliding to a stop by the stone wall that surrounded the stables. Pressing her back against the cold stone, she took a minute to catch her breath before making more snowballs-Sera would be looking for revenge. Hearing the sound of snow crunching Aaliyah realized Sera was coming closer, most likely to pelt her with as many snowballs as she could and now was her opportunity to get back for the earlier ones. The snow was still coming down which made it hard to see, but Aaliyah knew that she wouldn’t have any trouble hitting Sera. 

“Surprise!” Aaliyah yelled as she popped up while pulling back her arm, whipping the snowball as hard as she could. Only when it left her hand did Aaliyah realize that her intended target was someone else entirely and her eyes went wide as the snowball hit the face of the Inquisition’s Army.

—

Normally Cullen enjoyed the snow, he liked how quiet everything got and how it reflected the light, but he was quietly cursing this round of snow. It was snowing so much that the supplies scheduled to arrive from Ferelden were delayed and since a number of the items in the caravan were for the Satinalia feast Josephine was worried that they would never arrive and she would have the entirety of Skyhold plus their guests to assuage. 

So he politely excused himself from the War Room and decided that a walk around the grounds would clear his head.

Stepping out into the cold night, Cullen heard the dim sound of laughter and idly wondered what was going on. The snow crunching under his feet he headed towards the stables, so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn’t see the figure darting around him in the shadows (in hindsight he would chide himself for not spotting Aaliyah’s shadow, something that a former soldier should’ve noticed even when thinking). Suddenly someone yelled and the next thing he knew a snowball exploded in his face, stopping him in his tracks.

“Commander!” Aaliyah gasped as she stood wide-eyed in front of Cullen, who was looking confused as to what had just happened. Scrambling over the wall she scurried towards him. “Oh Maker, I thought that you were-we were having-I’m sorry I didn’t mean to hit you!” she stammered, feeling her face heating up despite the cold.

Despite his face stinging from the force of the hit, Cullen couldn’t help but smile at the Inquisitor’s stammering. Normally Aaliyah Trevelyan was confident, even managing to find some kind of witty reply without sounding condescending. He’d even admit to himself that she was rather pretty with her brown hair and equally brown eyes that seemed to take on a greenish tint when using the Anchor. And of course they had flirted, him rather badly, with each other but hadn’t done anything else. But lately Cullen had been wanting to take it a step further…he just didn’t know if Aaliyah would be receptive.

“It’s quite alright.” Cullen said as he brushed the snow from his face and cloak, knowing that he’s have to hang it by the fire later or it’d become musty. “When I was younger I hit my fair share of innocent targets.”

“The Inquisition’s commander used to throw snowballs. Are you sure that you want that information known?” Aaliyah teased with a smile, enjoying the flustered look on Cullen’s face that normally appeared when they strayed from official business. She had noticed the commander almost right away but it hadn’t been until she’d found out from Leliana that he’d refused to stop looking for her after the attack on Haven. After that she viewed him in a different light, her teasing taking a flirting route but she didn’t know if the commander felt the same way.

Cullen let out a slight laugh and smiled. “I think that the men would find that rather amusing. But I must confess-” 

Aaliyah would never know what Cullen was about to say because at that moment a giant pile of snow covered them and she let out a yell as snow fell down her collar. 

“Are you alright?” Cullen asked in a worried tone as he scrambled to help get the snow off of them.

“J-just snow under m-my collar!” she shivered while shaking her clothes to get the snow out. “ _Sera!_ ”

“That’s what you get for standing around talking instead of fighting!” Aaliyah heard Sera say from her hiding spot, no doubt far away from the pair. 

Aaliyah sighed while hugging her arms, trying to keep warm against the sudden cold, it seemed that their fight was over and she was back to being Inquisitor Trevelyan instead of just Aaliyah Trevelyan. 

Cullen noticed how she shuddered against the wind and quickly unclasped his cloak, putting it around her shoulders while saying, “Take this until we get back in, don’t want you catching cold and missing the feast.”

Aaliyah instantly felt warmer with the fur lined cloak around her and smiled at the comment. “Thank you. Josephine would be beside herself if the Inquisitor missed her own party because of a cold. I assume that you’ll be there as well.”

“Of course, I wouldn’t dare cross Josephine when she’s in full ambassador mode.”

“Just make sure you save me a dance.” Aaliyah said as they stepped inside and she handed his cloak back to him, knowing everyone in the main hall was watching and that the instant they left the rumors would spread like wildfire. Suppressing a smile as Cullen stammered out a noncommittal promise and took his cloak before hastily walking away, Aaliyah was silently glad for Sera’s impromptu distraction.

Turns out that the snow still held its magic.


End file.
